Manitoba gets ducks in a row for ramped-up vaccination effort Mid-May early target for all adults to get first shot By: Danielle Da Silva Posted: 7:00 PM CST Friday, Mar. 5, 2021 Last Modified: 8:53 PM CST Friday, Mar. 5, 2021 Updates

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The race is on for the province to nearly double its capacity and deliver 20,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses a day next month.

In just four weeks, vaccine deliveries are expected to ramp up significantly, but on Friday, the province only had the capacity to dole out about 12,500 lifesaving shots.

The Manitoba government has set a goal to give out 20,000 jabs daily in order to keep up with the minimum 1.5 million doses it will receive from the federal government from April to June.

Considering recent changes that allow second doses to be delayed as many as four months, Johanu Botha, operational lead for the COVID-19 vaccine task force, said he is certain the province will make good on its promise and provide a single shot to all adult Manitobans as early as May 18.

The new timeline is contingent on the province receiving a steady and high supply of vaccines from the federal government, Botha said.

“If that’s the case, and our system is up and running, as it will be, to administer 20,000 doses a day come the first of April, we will have all eligible Manitobans vaccinated,” Botha said. “We’re confident we can do this, if the supply arrives more consistently.”

The vaccine task force had earlier estimated all eligible Manitobans would get a shot by the end of August in the best-case scenario.

The expedited schedule follows a recommendation by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization that provinces delay second doses as long as the vaccine supply is scarce.

Attention now turns to the province’s ability to deliver.

Heavy hitters: mass vaccination clinics

Manitoba plans to use high-volume vaccination clinics — dubbed super-sites — to give roughly 14,000 shots a day beginning in April.

Right now, the province has three such clinics capable of administering 6,499 shots a day, including the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, the Keystone Centre in Brandon, and two locations in Thompson: a clinic at the recreation centre, and one at “Vaxport,” the provincial air hangar. A fourth super-site clinic will open Monday at the former Selkirk and District General Hospital, with an estimated daily capacity of 1,000 shots.

A fifth clinic will open at the Access Event Centre in Morden. An opening date has yet to be announced and the province has yet to confirm how many doses the clinic will provide daily.

Where the balance of doses will be offered — as many as 6,000 daily — remained uncertain Friday.

Provincial plans have called for a total of 13 super-sites, including two more in Winnipeg, a third for the north in either Flin Flon or The Pas, and one additional site in Southern Health and Interlake-Eastern, to be open in April. So far, no additional clinics have been announced.

Recently, Botha said the search for suitable facilities for mass clinics has been challenged due to strict infrastructure requirements for infection prevention and control.

“So what we’re looking at in terms of what will help us leap up to 20,000, it may be another super-site or two, but I think probably what will get us there at this point will be an array of pop-up sites,” Botha said. “We will continue on with building up to our around 13 super-sites, but that timeline… is impacted by the appropriate infection prevention and control measures.”

In the meantime, officials said the clinic at the convention centre will be expanded to towards meeting the April goal.

When it comes to staffing, the province says it has hired 1,647 immunizers — more than enough to deliver 14,000 doses a day at super-sites. Immunizers can also be assigned for post-immunization observation, as clinical leads or clinic managers, based on experience, the province said.

Earlier this week, 165 people were added to the provincial vaccine workforce, for a total of 2,224 staff. The province said it continues to recruit for clinic navigators outside Winnipeg and is in the process of hiring 50 students to begin working full-time as of April 1 to fill positions across Manitoba. Recruitment continues for immunizers in southern Manitoba.

Familiar and convenient: pharmacies and clinics

The province has recruited enough pharmacists and physicians to give up to 5,000 daily vaccine doses — a quarter of the planned capacity — through community clinics and pharmacies.

On average, individual clinics and pharmacies will give up to 20 doses a day throughout the spring.

However, physicians and pharmacists will only be able to hit the targeted 5,000 daily doses if enough fridge-stable vaccines are sent to Manitoba.

Currently, only the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines can be stored between 2 C and 8 C, with the former recommended for people under 65 years of age. The national advisory clinic has not provided recommendations on how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be used.

Barret Procyshyn, pharmacist and co-owner of Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, said his pharmacy is ready to spring into action when the doses arrive.

It has designated space to offer COVID-19 vaccines, Procyshyn said, and has established an online waiting list where community members can sign up and provide information related to their eligibility.

As eligibility criteria are expanded, Procyshyn said his pharmacy will contact people on the list to offer them appointments. He said they will be able to do between 60 and 80 doses a day.

“It has been a lot of work, but this is a chance for pharmacists and our profession to step up and show that we’re front-line health-care providers,” Procyshyn said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of pharmacists, especially in rural areas, step up to the plate.

“That’s the only way people in these small towns are going to get their vaccines,” he said.

Meanwhile, Doctors Manitoba has prepared its own website to assist the public in connecting with physicians who give COVID-19 vaccines. The website, ManitobaVaccine.ca, will include a list of doctors providing the jabs as clinics open for appointments. Each clinic and pharmacy will book appointments directly for their clients.

Hard to reach: pop-up clinics and immunization teams

An estimated 1,000 doses will be given per day to people who live in congregate settings or in isolated communities, through focused immunization teams and pop-up clinics.

The province says it has the capacity to offer 500 doses a day to people through focused immunization teams.

Currently, immunization teams are tasked with providing shots at assisted-living facilities and seniors homes, as well as at hospitals to immunize long-term patients. Nearly 3,000 residents and patients are scheduled for a vaccine at 70 locations throughout the province next week.

The same immunization teams will eventually go to provincial jails, family violence shelters, homeless shelters and transitional housing, group homes and addictions treatment facilities.

For rural and remote communities that cannot easily access a super-site clinic, the province plans to offer pop-up clinics. As of Friday, pop-up clinics could offer as many as 500 total daily doses.

However, no information has been provided about where pop-up clinics will be staged or when they would open. Churchill, Gillam, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Grand Rapids have been flagged for pop-up clinics.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca

Danielle Da Silva
Reporter

Danielle Da Silva is a general assignment reporter.

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